3 SOCIAL MEDIA SITES THAT WILL HELP BUMP UP YOUR SALES IN NO TIME

WARNING:This is quite a lengthy post and I apologise but things need to be said.

I often come across writer friends, who struggle with promoting their books.

They feel overwhelmed by social media and perhaps even terrified by it.

I have helped quite a number of them with my free promotional services but it’s just never enough. Although an outsourced promotion may help get the process of building promotional momentum started, it takes daily commitment to build an active network of engaged followers. This is work that needs to continue long after such a campaign has finished.

I then thought why not again share some of my favorite social media sites from a slightly different perspective. These ones I'm sharing I know get results because some of my clients give feedback saying they have seen bumps in sales even from day one or are absolutely overwhelmed by the visibility their books enjoyed during a campaign.

I have to follow that with saying there is nothing in this post that has not been extensively written about elsewhere on the internet. What I mean to do here however is to encourage authors struggling with self promotion to start looking at these sites wit a fresh eye if they are serious about sales and exposure.

You will also notice that Facebook is conspicuously missing from my list and this is why:

My problem is essentially that Facebook is conversation driven. I do not have the kind of time it takes for you to get noticed on Facebook because I cannot spend all day chatting and thinking of what to say on people’s posts. At least not to get the type of results I’m looking for.

Added to this is the fact that promoting on Facebook has become costly, ever since the powers that be decided that we spend so much time on it that they need to make us pay for having our followers read our updates. For an exceptional post on this let me refer you to one written by a Social Media guru whose blog I follow closely: David Leonhardt. I guarantee you will love reading David’s post on how: FACEBOOK JUST GAVE GOOGLE AN ORGASM. Don’t miss this one.

So getting back to social sites which in my opinion actually do deliver fantastic results I’d say first up you have to:

Pay attention to Google Plus (G+)

This is most probably one of, if not the most effective means of networking out there but so few are capitalizing on it. Most of us are still caught up in the fast leaking Facebook bubble you see?

But lets briefly look at what you can do with google that will help your social presence.

This site works on a similar principle to #Twitter as far as sharing capabilities with several major added benefits.

It is like a mini blog with a Facebook timeline like feel and twitter sharing capabilities made better and more efficient. You can use this platform in place of having a full on blog if you are still opposed to the idea of owning one even after reading my post regarding why you need one: Author Promote By Blogging and Prevent A Book's Death

It has a Plus 1 (+1) function which operates on the same principle as Facebook Likes with one major difference. A +1 on G+ means someone is telling Google’s Search Engines that your post is relevant and so it should enjoy visibility in search rankings. Facebook LIKES as far as I know have very little if any bearing on your searchability across the internet. You do not enjoy this kind of coverage even via Twitter because both Twitter and Facebook restrict Google from accessing their data which limits their SEO’s (search engine optimization) effectiveness. Simply put, the more +1’s (LIKES) your get, the more likely it is that your post will go viral. Good for your books discoverability.

The Google Hangout function is the best thing since I don’t know what. With Google Hangouts you can hold free live meetings, meaning you can actually do all your author interviews online. Brilliant. You can do vlogged writing tutorials, have little webinar like meetings with other writers, etc. Best of all, this is directly uploaded to your Tube account and creates another avenue for more readers to follow you via your You Tube channel. Nothing wasted. And if you think that’s good news, how about the fact that when your video comes from Google Hangouts, there are no time restrictions with You Tube, the video can be a long or as short as you like.

Much like another favorite of mine that I will mention shortly, Google+ members LOVE images. The more interesting and colorful the images with catchy text like quotes, the more likely it is to get +1’s , shares and comments. This is very important if you find yourself stuck on what to post about. You control the size of your images (another plus) so the bigger your book cover, the more eyes will land on it. Post pictures and quotes related to your books and people will love them. Example, I love finding steampunk picture updates, they are always so fascinating….this automatically leads to curiosity about who put up the post and subsequently their blogs and books.

Do get on Twitter

I know this may sound redundant but just last week I met another author to whom I had to explain the benefits of working with Twitter as opposed to all the time she spends trying, with not much luck, to get word out about her books on Facebook.

I told her the same thing I will tell you know.

Twitter is absolutely crucial if you want maximum exposure with minimal reader engagement and time spend online.

That is not to say you should not engage with fellow tweeters, but for someone like me, who has no time to forever have their eyes pinned on the mobile screens, using twitter for sharing purposes works.

There are three main things you need to do in to make twitter work for you.

1 – post tweets linked to relevant/valuable content

2 – identify people whose attention you want for your own content and start sharing theirs.

I wrote a three series break down of why I love Twitter which you might be interested in. You can find that here:cTwitter Series

In summary, the most important thing is to get yourself a twitter account. If you have one then use twitter more strategically.

Tips:

Tweet the same message four times a day at least to get good coverage and retweet potential.

Spend just 15 minutes of your day retweeting people whose attention you want to point towards your book or blog. For example if you want book readers to pay attention, focus on getting book review bloggers and RT them as opposed to just retweeting your writer buddies.

Pinterest everything.

Yes I do believe that Pinterest is where the cashcow lives.

You will see that just about everyone on this site is selling one thing or another but is using graphics to do so. And more than any other this works because the reading audience is looking for great attractively presented ideas and deals.

If I post book covers on Pinterest I gets hits on Amazon without posting anything other than an attractive book cover with the author’s name and a catchy phrase. This goes to show that the old adage is very true: pictures do speak loudest….sorry to be so cliché’.

I get quite a significant number of shares on Pinterest for posting my interviews and reviews as well. So I think you really need to start making use of Pinterest to get a foothold on shopping traffic.

Most know me as the author to Fabulosity Reads and in actual fact, that is the previous name of this blog. I have since then moved my books to a Wordpress self-hosted blog so that I can have a place to show a different side of me which I am equally passionate about and that is marketing and personal development. I hope you will love being here, watching me grow as I share and learn. My highest hope is that we will grown and learn together in all disciplines affecting our lives. I'd LUUURRRVE to hear from you, so don't be shy...

We share the same opinion about G+, Wendy! It is a good collaboration of the three remarkable social media sites (e.g. FB, Twitter, Pinterest). And because if its high-end features, it can be a perfect platform to promote your business online. Thanks for sharing!